logic-chopping
nounEtymology From the phrase chop logic, attested from the early 16th century . The element chop originally meant "to bandy, exchange" (as in chop logic, i.e., to exchange logical arguments) . Later chop was wrongly understood as "to cut, split" .
1
Derogatory The practice of engaging in excessively subtle, pedantic, or specious argumentation; the use of overly fine or trivial distinctions in reasoning .
- Contemptuous logic-chopper "sophist, person who uses subtle distinctions in argument" .1846, Merry England, page 234:
- Let the Almighty step in and arrange things in a proper way. No more logic-chopping!1931, Bhagat Singh, Why I am an Atheist:
- Synonyms
- chop logic, casuistry, sophistry, quibbling
- Related terms
- logic-chopper, chop-logic